Hitachi-Tata unit to be an export hub

PINAK GHOSH

The Tata-Hitachi plant in Kharagpur. (AP)

Kharagpur, Dec. 4: Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Ltd, previously known as Telcon, is looking to use its Rs 575-crore Kharagpur plant at the Vidyasagar Industrial Park in Bengal as a hub for exporting low-end products to Africa and West Asia.

The company plans to increase exports to 15 per cent from 2-3 per cent of its total business within 3-4 years.

The move will help the company — a 60:40 joint venture between Japanese Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. Ltd. and Tata Motors — to increase its revenues to around Rs 5,500 crore from Rs 3,000 crore within five years.

“We want the Kharagpur plant to be gradually tuned to low-end, cost-effective products that can be supplied to global markets especially developing countries,” said Mitsuhiro Tabei, vice-president and executive officer of Hitachi Construction Machinery.

“Currently, because of the slowdown in the construction equipment market across the country, the Kharagpur unit is operating at 35 per cent of its installed capacity. But the idea is to produce machines, which are low cost and suited for the developing nations around the world,” Ranaveer Sinha, managing director of Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company, said.

“At present, exports to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal constitute 2-3 per cent of the total domestic business. We are now looking to export to Africa and West Asian countries such as Oman and increase the share of exports to 15 per cent,” Sinha said on the sidelines of the company’s rechristening here today.